INSTANT HISTORY: THE WEEK.

A different reason to stay out of stadiums

October 14, 2001|By This page was compiled by Charles M. Madigan and Theresa Walla of the Perspective staff.

For all its notoriety, anthrax is a labor-intensive biological weapon to test the patience of the most dedicated terrorist. Deadly? Yes. But it is one of the least-communicable diseases known, striking down all of four Americans in the last 20 years.

Even given a stadium full of football fanatics as a target, terrorists with a crop duster's worth of anthrax might have better luck pushing spectators down the stadium steps and hoping for head injuries.

There's no doubt that the sneaky bacteria are tough as nails, able to snooze for decades in protective spores. Therein lies anthrax's attraction for the disaffected. But what it offers in durability it lacks in mobility: One infected person cannot infect another, either accidentally or intentionally. And it's tough to come up with postage for 262 million first-class letters.

Anthrax has been inflicted on populations before, but it required concerted use of a nation's military.

It's true that anthrax is untreatable once symptoms appear, but it's also easily guarded against.

Another fact that's indisputable: Anthrax is, regrettably, still a rock band. And this disease is worse than the Cure.

"The tour the terrorists tried to stop is back! Check out the new dates!" trumpets the Web site anthrax.com. Swinging wildly between concern and cockiness, the holdover metal band from the '80s jokes that it considered "Basket Full of Puppies" to replace "Anthrax," chosen when it sounded "cool, aggressive and nobody knew what it was." It's strange, band members muse, but suddenly "our name symbolizes fear, paranoia and death. Suddenly our name is not so cool."

But not to worry.

Anthrax promises to post information on how to protect yourself from anthrax.

As for protecting yourself from anthrax? Ignore the part about the tour dates.